It will flow from this session
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

IIMs defer admissions Indian Institutes of Management today decided to postpone the release of their admission list, earlier to be released on April 11. “We want to put the release on hold to study the judgment,” IIM-A director Sameer Barua said, adding he could not say the quality of students would suffer as a result of the verdict.

New Delhi, April 10
The Ministry of Human Resource Development today sprung into action to implement “from this academic session” the 27 per cent quota for OBCs in educational institutions supported by central government.

With the union HRD minister Arjun Singh hailing the Supreme Court judgment on OBC quota as “historic” and saying the quotas will flow from this session, ministry officials will have a lot of spadework to do. The challenge at hand is to determine the real beneficiaries of OBC quota in line with the SC judgment.

The judgment not just excludes the creamy layer but says that quota must go to the socially, educationally and economically backward.

With today’s verdict of the SC, total reservation for SCs/STs and OBCs in educational institutions has gone up to 49.5 per cent. A 22.5 per cent quota already existed for SCs and STs.

For his part, union HRD minister said his stand had been vindicated. “I have been working for this cause since I was the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. People have not understood reservation. I feel vindicated by this judgment, which will serve the interest of social justice,” Singh said, adding that the government would sort out the issue of creamy layer, something he had proposed in the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006. The act, ruled a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan today, “does not violate the basic structure of the Constitution.” The court, however, said creamy layer among OBCs cannot get the quota benefit.

Anti-reservation activists welcomed the exclusion of creamy layer, saying it was their victory and government’s loss. Dr Kumar Harsh, president, AIIMS resident doctors association, which led last year’s protests against quotas, told The Tribune, “It will be tough for the government to implement OBC quota from this session. The SC has asked them to prepare a list of beneficiaries. If not in consonance with the SC judgment, the list will be open to challenge. Also, the regime must be reviewed every five years. We will wait for government notification before contemplating action. We are organising ourselves nevertheless, because the fight is far from over.”

The ministry, meanwhile, began issuing instructions to the institutions to see how they can implement quota from this session. As regards implication, union HRD minister has been saying it will not affect the general category, as additional seats will be created. There has been a talk of increasing seats to 54 per cent. “I am sure everyone who wants equality in access to higher education will welcome this judgment,” Arjun Singh said, reiterating there would be “no clash of interest due to the verdict.”

As regards creamy layer - anyone whose family income is more than Rs 2.5 lakh will fall into the creamy layer by economic yardstick. “But economy can’t be the sole consideration for determining beneficiaries, the SC has clarified,” said M.L. Lahoti, who represented anti-reservation activists in court.

Among institutes to be covered by new quota law are IITs, IIMs, 20 central universities (like JNU, DU), central government-managed professional institutions like six central medical colleges including AIIMS, National Law School and the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. Whether regional engineering colleges will be covered is yet to be clarified. The ministry had earlier said RECs won’t be covered as they were not considered premier educational institutions..